The preceding example uses a correlated subquery, which can be
inefficient (see Correlated Subqueries). Other
possibilities for solving the problem are to use an uncorrelated
subquery in the FROM clause or a
LEFT JOIN.

Uncorrelated subquery:

SELECT s1.article, dealer, s1.price
FROM shop s1
JOIN (
SELECT article, MAX(price) AS price
FROM shop
GROUP BY article) AS s2
ON s1.article = s2.article AND s1.price = s2.price
ORDER BY article;

LEFT JOIN:

SELECT s1.article, s1.dealer, s1.price
FROM shop s1
LEFT JOIN shop s2 ON s1.article = s2.article AND s1.price < s2.price
WHERE s2.article IS NULL
ORDER BY s1.article;

The LEFT JOIN works on the basis that when
s1.price is at its maximum value, there is no
s2.price with a greater value and thus the
corresponding s2.article value is
NULL. See JOIN Syntax.